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On 30 June 2016, States met at the UN General Assembly in New York to elect nine people to serve on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Elections take place every two years and members are elected for a term of four years. Those selected will replace the outgoing members of the 18-strong Committee whose terms expire on 28 February 2017. The Committee is the the most important children’s rights mechanism in the world - it not only has the authority to influence governments' compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), but can also interpret and expand on its provisions.
Elected by secret ballot, the new members are: Amal Salman Aldoseri (Bahrain), Olga A. Khazova (Russian Federation), Cephas Lumina (Zambia), Benyam Dawit Mezmur (Ethiopia), Mikiko Otani (Japan), Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reyna (Uruguay), Ann Marie Skelton (South Africa), Velina Todorova (Bulgaria), Renate Winter (Austria). For more details and the exact number of votes received click here. For more information on each of the candidates, visit CRIN's page of candidate profiles.
The Human Rights Council held its 32nd session from 13 June to 1 July. Here we summarise some of the developments concerning children’s rights. For more information on the Human Rights Council’s 32nd session, you can refer to the programme of work, view the reports for the 29th session, and read summaries of the meetings that have taken place so far. Other information can be found on the homepage of the Human Rights Council website.
The Human Rights Council adopted a new resolution on the ‘Protection of the family’ in spite of strong opposition from civil society. The resolution, which addresses the “role of the family in supporting the protection and promotion of human rights of persons with disabilities”, was adopted with 32 votes in favour, 12 against and 3 abstentions. A joint oral statement by children’s rights NGOs raised concerns that the Council is prioritising the family in its work to the detriment of the individual rights of children, contradicting the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Several amendments were presented, including one tabled by the UK, which drew attention to the fact that the family is not a rights holder under international law and that cases abound in which individual rights are abused by other family members. Another amendment, tabled by Switzerland and Norway, sought to include respect for all forms of families. All were rejected.
On a more positive note, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolutionestablishing an Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 23 in favour, 18 against, with six abstentions. Although a number of hostile amendments seeking to introduce notions of cultural relativism were adopted into the text by vote, the core of the resolution affirming the universal nature of international human rights law stood firm. The vote responds to a joint campaign of a record 628 NGOs from 151 countries calling on the Human Rights Council to create this mandate.
The Independent Expert will report annually to the Human Rights Council, starting from its 35th session, and to the General Assembly, starting from its 72nd session. The mandate is for a period of three years.
UN mandated commissions of inquiry (CoI) are established to report on and promote accountability for situations of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The CoIs on the situations in Eritrea and Syria presented their latest reports to the HRC.
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The CoI on the Syrian Arab Republic has found that the so-called Islamic State (IS) “has committed the crime of genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidis, thousands of whom are held captive in the Syrian Arab Republic where they are subjected to almost unimaginable horrors.”
Over 3,200 Yazidi women and children are still held by IS. “Most are in Syria where Yazidi females continue to be sexually enslaved and Yazidi boys, indoctrinated, trained and used in hostilities. Thousands of Yazidi men and boys are missing.”
The CoI found evidence that IS “has sought to destroy the Yazidis [including] through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily and mental harm;[...] the imposition of measures to prevent Yazidi children from being born, including forced conversion of adults [...]; and the transfer of Yazidi children from their own families and placing them with [IS] fighters, thereby cutting them off from beliefs and practices of their own religious community, and erasing their identity as Yazidis.”
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The CoI on Human Rights in Eritrea concluded that crimes against humanity, including enslavement, imprisonment, torture, rape and murder have been widespread in the country. The commission suggested that these crimes should be dealt with by the International Criminal Court, alleging that state officials, the ruling party and commanding officers bear the responsibility of these conditions.
The report also highlights that “harmful practices, such as the forced marriage of underage girls, including as a result of poverty, persist in Eritrea, even though the legal minimum age for marriage is 18 years. [...] Girls continue to be removed from school and/or forced into marriages arranged by their families in order for them to avoid the harsh conditions and the possibility of sexual abuse in national service training centres.”
The HRC held its annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women, with its first panel discussion focusing on the theme of violence against indigenous women and girls and its root causes. Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, in her opening remarks pointed out that indigenous women and girls are three times more likely to suffer violence than other women. Member State delegations noted that sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls is one of the most brutal manifestations of human rights violations. Despite their natural resources, indigenous people account for the world’s poorest people as a result of racism and geographical and political marginalisation, which in turn places them in a vulnerable situation, in which they suffer multiple intersecting human rights violations. Some speakers observed that the lack of access to resources and the presence of new forms of violence, including because of extractive industries and mono-cultural practices, are crucial factors in understanding violence against women.
In a panel discussion on women’s rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, participants highlighted that the Sustainable Development Goals have the potential to achieve real advances for gender equality and women’s empowerment, but concrete actions are needed to make them a reality. Panellists were concerned that women lack equal participation in economic growth, and highlighted the specific vulnerability of women and girls to conflict situations and climate change.
A high level side-event on “The Power of empowered women - Gender Equality: what will you do?” was organised by the Group of Women Ambassadors to the UN in Geneva. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, expressed his concern about the continued failure to consider rape as a crime in some countries. Baroness Anelay, the UK Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, highlighted the importance of tackling sexual violence in conflict. The event also saw the projection of videos of candidates for the role of UN Secretary-General replying to a question on gender equality within the UN.
Francois Crepeau, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, presented his report on the impact of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements on the human rights of migrants. In the ensuing interactive dialogue, he said that the first thing States must do for unaccompanied children is stop detaining them; instead they must find alternatives to detention and provide safe spaces for children, provide guardianship arrangements in order to protect their best interests, and establish best interests of the child judicial procedures, as these do not exist in many countries. He stressed that unaccompanied children should be taken care of by regular child protection services and not immigration authorities.
The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, presented her thematic report to the Human Rights Council, on protecting victims of trafficking in conflict and post-conflict situations.. She highlighted that traffickers specifically target impoverished communities, including the internally displaced, in order to exploit their vulnerability. The Special Rapporteur also pointed out that unaccompanied children fleeing conflicts often have no choice but to work to meet their basic needs. Taking the example of Iraqi or Syrian refugees children in Lebanon, she said that the 1,500 children working in or around Beirut were working in conditions amounting to forced labour. Another issue raised was the trafficking of children for forced military service which led to children performing a variety of combatant and supportive roles, and even being used as suicide bombers and human shields. The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation was also a subject of concern, with conflict-related sexual violence taking many forms and survivors of trafficking rarely receiving the assistance they need to reintegrate into society. This was also the subject of the joint report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. They presented the findings from their visit to Nigeria where they examined measures taken to rehabilitate and reintegrate women and children who escaped or were liberated from Boko Haram’s captivity.
This year’s Global Day Against Child Labour focused on child labour and supply chains. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 168 million children are potentially involved in the supply chains of industries including agriculture, construction, manufacturing and more - with potential for rights violations in every sector. To support businesses in their actions to remove child labour from their supply chains, the ILO and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) have jointly published the Child Labour Guidance Tool, a resource for companies to conduct business in line with international labour standards on child labour.
At an event in Geneva, Human Rights Watch called on delegates to begin drafting a set of binding rules and released a new report on protecting human rights in global supply chains, detailing labour rights abuses and anti-union tactics employed around the world. To mark the day The Guardian also released a roundup of products potentially involving child labour, including tea, coffee, chocolate and consumer electronics, demonstrating the extent to which child labour is still used to bring us everyday items.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 11 July for the review of Greece, Lebanon, Pakistan, Paraguay, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and the UK.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 29 August for the review of Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Philippines, Poland and Tunisia.
Human Rights Committee: 25 July for for the list of issues for Honduras, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mongolia and Pakistan and list of issues prior to reporting for Paraguay and Togo; 19 September for the review of Azerbaijan, Colombia, Jamaica, Morocco, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Slovakia.
Committee on Migrant Workers: 5 August for the review of Honduras, Nicaragua, Niger and Sri Lanka.
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Closing
The candidates in the running to be the next UN Secretary-General will all answer 10 questions from civil society. The choice of questions was agreed on by a selection committee of which CRIN was a member.
You can still submit questions by 6 July for a dialogue with all candidates on 12 July.
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